By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom has withdrawn its notice to interrupt power supply in the City of Johannesburg after both parties have reached an agreement to resolve the impasse.
This follows mediation by the Minister of Energy and Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa met with City of Joburg officials on Monday to address tensions between the municipality and Eskom following a dispute.
Eskom published a notice on Thursday to warn that electricity supply to Johannesburg would be disrupted because City Power owed it R4.9 billion in historic debt and R1.4 billion on its current account, which brings the city’s total outstanding balance to R6.3 billion.
The city, however, hit back that Eskom has been overbilling it.
Speaking during a media briefing on Monday, Ramokgopa, said the city has committed to paying the current account, leading to the withdrawal of Eskom’s notice to interrupt power supply.
“We are confident we will find each other [in the future]– at the core, this is a dispute on the accuracy of billing.
The minister added that the failure to pay Eskom was not endemic to Johannesburg, but was the situation across most municipalities because their revenue bases were contracting.
He said that in July, Eskom was owed R78 billion. Municipal debt has now risen to R90 billion.
“The trend is on the up with an increase in debt by R3 billion a month,” he said.
Ramokgopa indicated that Eskom has engaged with the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and some municipalities about the rising municipal debt
“We are trying to move with speed to ensure that we avert a catastrophe and that catastrophe is a situation where the levels of debt continue to escalate exponentially undermining Eskom’s ability to meet its obligations.”
He added that the non-payment created challenges at Eskom so that the entity would eventually fail to meet its obligations.